The game's director - who played a big part in its release in 2016 - has quit the company to move onto a new project, and it comes after the studio revealed an "extraordinary loss" of just over £25 million.

As reported by Eurogamer, Tabata was given the choice of having his Luminous Productions company becoming one of Square Enix's business divisions - which now seems likely - or taking it off as its own brand with the studio's investment.

However, he has now officially announced his decision to live in a special livestream in which it was confirmed that all but one of the four DLC episodes planned for next year have been axed.

Tabata said: "In regards to my next endeavours and near future, I have a project that I truly wish to solidify as my next challenge after 'Final Fantasy 15'.

"As production of Episode Ardyn continues and Luminous Productions works on new projects, I felt that it was time for me to hand over the torch to the next-generation group of talented and trustworthy colleagues and believe that they will create something amazing."